UNESCO recently declared the 30th of April as International jazz day, encouraging worldwide participation on and around the 30th of April every year. Jazz Goa celebrated it in style on the 1st of May in a second edition of 'Concert in the park' at the beautifully renovated Jardim Garcia da Orta in Panjim. the crowd turnout was nothing short of phenomenal with all seating arrangement filling in even before kick off time at 6pm. The rest of the huge gathering filed in around 7pm and were happy to stand through some rivetting performances that simply took thier breath away. The concert had celebrity show host Raymond Alburqueque at the helm introducing every act with his usual flair to give the show a classy edge. The Panjim Open Philharmonic made up of amateur and professional musicians took the stage on the dot of six and went through their repertoire with finnese guided by founding member Rui Lobo.

Then came Raymonds announcement of Jazz Goa's official participation in the International jazz day inviting Jazz Junction to take the stage with Yvonne Gonsalves on vocals, Joshua Costa on keyboards, Colin D'Cruz on fretless bass and Lester Godinho on drums. The quartet simply blew the crowd away at the outset itself opening with a swinging original called 'Jazz Goa Blues' followed by their own versions of jazz standards like 'Triste' and 'You don't know what love is' including contemporory jazz tunes like 'Shoulder' and 'Any place I hang my hat is home'. They then invited Canadian jazz singer Steffano Rochetti to jam on 'Georgia' and 'Autumn Leaves'. Steffano is a showman extraordinaire, the crowd just could not get enough of him, he left the stage promising to be back after a beer. Jazz Junction wound up their set with a tune aptly titled 'That's all'. UK guitarist Chris Jolly and singer Zezinho Fernandes then filled in with a couple of mellow tunes while Goa's hot new act 'Smoking Chutney' prepared to blow the jam packed park away in a sizzling hour long set. Smoking Chutney featured Benoy Rai on guitar and vocals, Colin D'Cruz on bass and Dennis Coelho on drums with Goa's ace percussionist Carlos Gonsalves jamming in as a guest along with UK singer Jan Graveson. The band opened with a smoking rendition of John Scofield's 'Do like Eddie' that had Benoy's fiery guitar solos sitting on Dennis and Colin's tight drum and bass grooves. Then came the tune 'Tightrope' this time showcasing Benoy's vocal talent as well. Another smoking blues called 'Red House' and it was time for Jan Graveson to join Smoking Chutney to pump up the already adrenalized band. Jan showed the audience what 'showtime' is all about with high energy renditions of the Police's 'Message in a bottle' and the Beatle's 'Come together'. Jan's was a tough act to follow but showman Steffano took it in his stride taking the stage again with an absolutely amazing rendition of 'Hoochie Coochie man'. It was now way past closing time but the crowd stayed rivetted demanding an encore that turned out to be the ultimate show stopper - an original tune titled 'Smoking Chutney' by the closing act 'Smoking Chutney'. The show ended with Raymond promising many more concerts in the park.

Jazz Goa has been producing music that makes waves internationally, time and again topping the international internet charts.

The latest chartbuster 'Jazz Goa Blues' currently stands at No.1 from among thousands of worldwide entries.

The track was recorded in Goa through an online collaboration between pianist Tony Dias from Mumbai, guitarist Srinjay Banerjee from Kolkata, Saxophonist Ilia Matveev from St. Petersburg and bassist Colin D'Cruz from Goa.

Jazz Goa has now become a hub for worldwide music collaborations thanks to the internet.

Watch out for new entries every week on the radio station at www.jazzgoa.com

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Jazz Goa)News StoryFri, 30 Mar 2012 15:01:01 -0500Devika Bhise-live in Goahttp://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/devika-bhise-live-in-goa.html
http://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/devika-bhise-live-in-goa.htmlThe 11th Goa arts and literary festival at the International Centre in Goa featured the multi talented New-York based singer/actor/dancer/film maker Devika Bhise on the 20th of December.

The 11th Goa arts and literary festival at the International Centre in Goa featured the multi talented singer/actor/dancer/film maker Devika Bhise on the 20th of December.

All of 20 years, New York based Devika has already come a long way acting in a Hollywood Uma Thurman and Colin Firth-starrer 'The Accidental Husband' besides performing in musicals like Les Miserables, Little Shop of Horrors and T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party at places like Lincoln Center and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is a trained Indian classical singer and dancer and has been studying piano and jazz vocals in New York. Devika is a regular visitor to Goa and lives in a Charles Correa designed sea-front home that could easily be one of the best addresses in Dona Paula. A home that's built to be an ideal abode for an artist, small wonder since she comes from a lineage of accomplished Indian classical dancers and is the daughter of the world renowned Bharat Natyam dancer Swati Bhise.

Devika's interest in jazz arose early in life being brought up in the big apple where a walk on the street takes one through a series of amazing jazz performances on the street itself. Her background in Indian classical music helped her pick up the nuances of jazz improvisation with ease and her acting and dancing experience makes her a natural onstage. Devika took the stage with Goa's premier jazz band 'Jazz Junction' made up of Xavier Peres on keyboards, Colin D'Cruz on bass and Lester Godinho on drums with visiting virtuoso Ilia Matveev on saxophone. Needless to say the concert was one that could easily have taken place anywhere in the world with the high performance standard. Devika delivered with an act that thrilled and excited the audience ending with huge calls for encores that she obliged three times over.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Jazz Goa)Press ReleasesWed, 28 Dec 2011 12:59:55 -0600Amit Heri live in Goa!http://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/amit-heri-live-in-goa.html
http://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/amit-heri-live-in-goa.htmlBangalore based jazz virtuoso Amit Heri recently set off the season at Jazz Inn, Cavelossim, with some absolutely smoking live jazz, along with local jazzmen Colin D'Cruz on fretless bass and Lester Godinho on drums. The Amit Heri trio made sure the venue lived up to it's name. Each and everyone in the full house made up of tourists from all over the world including a good amount of local jazz enthusiasts, were all in for a treat on par with any jazz club in the world.

Bangalore based jazz virtuoso Amit Heri recently set off the season at Jazz Inn, Cavelossim, with some absolutely smoking live jazz, along with local jazzmen Colin D'Cruz on fretless bass and Lester Godinho on drums. The Amit Heri trio made sure the venue lived up to it's name. Each and everyone in the full house made up of tourists from all over the world including a good amount of local jazz enthusiasts, were all in for a treat on par with any jazz club in the world. The band kicked off with a Miles Davis classic 'All Blues' set off by Colin's strong fretless bassline and supported by Lester's tight drum pattern allowing Amit to fly all over All Blues. The spotlight kept shifting onto a singing fretless bass solo followed by a breathtaking drum solo. This pretty much set the pattern for tracks to follow that included two of Amit's compositions called 'Peace' and a complex arrangement of 'Beyond the three worlds'. Amit led his band with absolute virtuosity, coaxing the best out of his two accomplished backing musicians. What resulted was nothing short of spontaneously created improvisational magic. The awe struck diners stayed riveted to thier seats, some of them forgetting about the sizzlers on their plates while the sizzling sound of a kicking jazz trio spiced things up right through the evening.

Bonny Remedios, a Goan originally from Saligao, has spent a lifetime performing on hotel contracts at some of the best five star hotels in Mumbai. He led a jazz band that actually entertained audiences bringing them back for more at every outlet he performed at. He is often refered to as the 'Louis Armstrong of India' for his amazing renditions of Louis Armstrong classics in the exact same gravelly voice that used to be a rage among jazz enthusiasts in the swinging sixty's. His repertoire of jazz standards could easily make a real book of jazz. His act was the lighter side of jazz getting the audience to sing, dance and laugh along as opposed to some of the far too serious jazz artistes. He often takes a jazz standard and twists the lyrics in ways that keeps the audience in splits. His fan following, built over five decades of live performance, is huge and his name always crops up in nostalgic reminiscing of the glorious days of live music and big bands.

He began his career as a novice pianist with one of India's greatest band leader 'Chic Chocalates' band in the early sixty's and soon after went on to lead his own quintet on hotel residencies year after year. Bonny was also very much a part of Mumbai's Bollywood scene and has done innumerable sessions as a chorus singer for just about every music director. His vocal technique matches his piano skills and very often he performs as a solo act. Even with over five decades of live performance under his belt, Bonnie never really got the opportunity to record his own album until he met up with his 1980 band's bassplayer Colin D'Cruz who offered to record and promote him through Jazz Goa. The ten track album will showcase Bonny in his elements, some tracks from the album can be heard online on the radio station at www.jazzgoa.com

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Jazz Goa)News StorySun, 27 Nov 2011 07:09:34 -0600Malcolm Mc'Neil jams with Jazz Junctionhttp://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/malcolm-mc-neil-jams-with-jazz-junction.html
http://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/malcolm-mc-neil-jams-with-jazz-junction.htmlThe Goa Marriott resort's chilled out lounge bar AZ UR seems to be the first off the block to usher in the new season with some world class international artistes being featured almost every Friday as guest performers with the house band Jazz Junction. The band features some of the most accomplished jazz musicians in the country, quite capable of backing any of the international jazz artistes that have now become a regular feature ever since they began playing here in July this year.

The Goa Marriott resort's chilled out lounge bar AZ UR seems to be the first off the block to usher in the new season with some world class international artistes being featured almost every Friday as guest performers with the house band Jazz Junction. The band features some of the most accomplished jazz musicians in the country, quite capable of backing any of the international jazz artistes that have now become a regular feature ever since they began playing here in July this year.

The most recent guest was New Zealand's living jazz legend singer Malcolm Mc'Neil who has over fifty years of performance all over the world behind him. He first visited India in 1998 to perform with his big band at the Jazz Yatra in Mumbai and Delhi. This was his first visit to Goa and definitley not his last as he announced to an enthralled audience, totally captivated with the veteran's amazing vocal gymnastics, that seemed to be continously enhanced by Jazz Junction's tight rhythm section made up of Xavier Peres on keyboards, Colin D'Cruz on fretless bass and Lester Godinho on drums. Malcolm was thrilled with some of the spontaneous improvisations taking place around him that egged him on to produce some brilliant scat solos. The session went on for a full two hours turning the lounge bar into an absolutely world class jazz lounge right through the evening.

Music in Goa is known for its Latin American roots and one Goan musician Colin D'Cruz got the opportunity to perform Latin-jazz with a couple of masters from Brazil and America. Thanks to the Internet.

The internet has turned the world into one large interesting room and it was through the Internet that Joel Smith saw and heard Colin's performances. Joel Smith is an American pianist, composer, arranger, educator and Latin-jazz performer. He leads a jazz trio which also features twenty-year-old Brazilian drummer Tiago Michelin who started playing drums at the age of three and now studies music at the world-renowned institute of jazz - the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Jazz bass player Colin D'Cruz who has been making waves worldwide with his music regularly being published on the Internet, saw yet another of his dreams come true. Joel Smith invited Colin to perform with his trio at the first of their world wide gigs. They played their first international gig at the live music venue – Blue Frog in Mumbai on the 31st of May 2011.

Colin had studied Joel's music through exchanges on the Internet long before the first gig and he comfortably slipped into the band even though the trio actually got together for the first time onstage itself. Joel Smith's music has Afro-Cuban elements laced with intricate jazz harmonies and infectious Latin rhythm making it an intense yet enjoyable listening experience.

The packed house at Blue Frog responded to every track with thunderous applause and did not let go of the band even way past the last song for the show.

One of the tracks performed was named 'Miramar' which is a very common name of cities in South America. Joel was quite surprised to know that there was a Miramar in Goa too and announced the fact to the audience dedicating the song to a few Goans in the audience. Colin discussed possibilities of having the band perform in Goa and Joel Smith has promised to include Goa in his worldwide itinerary.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Jazz Goa)Concert ReviewsWed, 01 Jun 2011 11:28:27 -0500Geetu Hinduja live at Goa Chitrahttp://jazzreview.com/concert-reviews/geetu-hinduja-live-at-goa-chitra.html
http://jazzreview.com/concert-reviews/geetu-hinduja-live-at-goa-chitra.htmlGoa Chitra presented two quartets absolutely unplugged. The Emilliano da Cruz quartet featuring Goas music maestro himself on violin and mandolin Oscar on guitar Colin D'Cruz on bass and Carlos Gonsalves on percussion. Geetu Hinduja's quartet had the amazing singer/songwriter on vocals and guitar Roque Lazarus on guitar and melodica with Colin D'Cruz and Carlos Gonsalves on bass and drums again. The show was split into two halves with local icon Emmilliano doing the honours as the opening act. Emmilliano made himself at home onstage from the word go and promptly had the audience eating right out of his palms…

Goa Chitra presented two quartets absolutely unplugged. The Emilliano da Cruz quartet featuring Goas music maestro himself on violin and mandolin Oscar on guitar Colin D'Cruz on bass and Carlos Gonsalves on percussion. Geetu Hinduja's quartet had the amazing singer/songwriter on vocals and guitar Roque Lazarus on guitar and melodica with Colin D'Cruz and Carlos Gonsalves on bass and drums again.

The show was split into two halves with local icon Emmilliano doing the honours as the opening act. Emmilliano made himself at home onstage from the word go and promptly had the audience eating right out of his palms that caressed his two loves the mandolin and the violin. Beautiful melodies filled the air at Goa Chitra for over an hour kindling nostalgic memories of good times way back when music was well music!

Geetu Hinduja then came on with a soul stirring solo song accompanying herself on an acoustic guitar with professional finesse. The band joined her from the next song onwards transporting the audience into a dreamlike state as a new story unfolded with every song that was rendered with feeling and expression. Her original compositions were well recieved by an audience that punctuated every song with huge rounds of applause. She then invited the maestro onstage to join her quartet on violin and mandolin. Emillianos presence onstage added colour especially with his huge warm smile and the audience demaded his quartet back onstage at the end of Geetus show. Party time continued with Emilliano's quartet for an extended hour and then in true unplugged style Geetu continued entertaining the hanging on crowd at their tables with songs that were not on her program.'

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Jazz Goa)Concert ReviewsMon, 04 Apr 2011 19:00:00 -0500Jazz Junction features Fauziahttp://jazzreview.com/concert-reviews/jazz-junction-features-fauzia.html
http://jazzreview.com/concert-reviews/jazz-junction-features-fauzia.htmlGoa Chitra celebrated carnival in style, Brazilian style. Fauzia Maria Beg an accomplished singer of Indian origin who is based in Germany, has been singing Brazilian songs with her ten piece German band for the last fifteen years. Brazilians who have seen her perform find it hard to believe that she is of Indian origin. Fauzia has captured the essence of Brazilian music and made it her own simply because it was a form of music she enjoyed performing the most. Her articulate pronunciation, rhythmic scatting and exuberant stage presence has won her accolades from Latin jazz connoisseurs around the…

Goa Chitra celebrated carnival in style, Brazilian style.

Fauzia Maria Beg an accomplished singer of Indian origin who is based in Germany, has been singing Brazilian songs with her ten piece German band for the last fifteen years. Brazilians who have seen her perform find it hard to believe that she is of Indian origin. Fauzia has captured the essence of Brazilian music and made it her own simply because it was a form of music she enjoyed performing the most. Her articulate pronunciation, rhythmic scatting and exuberant stage presence has won her accolades from Latin jazz connoisseurs around the world. Goa could not have had a more appropriate act to open the first day of carnival celebrations in this music loving state.

Jazz Junction formed by bass player Colin DCruz in the year 2004 has featured some of the worlds most accomplished singers and soloists over the years and Fauzia will definitely rate among the best that the band has showcased so far. She fitted in naturally with a tightly knit local rhythm section that included Xavier Peres on keyboards and Lester Godinho on drums. Russian saxophone virtuoso Iliya Matveev has language constraints when communicating with the musicians he works with in Goa but once he blows into horn all language barriers fall apart to make room for some brilliantly soulful sounds of a universal language. German bass player Andreas Renz who took over from Colin in the second set once again settled the fact that music is indeed a universal language and it's nothing unusual for a German to be found playing Brazilian music with Russian and Indian musicians in far away Goa.

Goa is known for it's Latin roots and the audience that night were entertained with the real thing that could easily have been a local live performance in Rio de Janeiro. Fauzia's stage presence has to be seen to be believed her body language kept saying 'come on people let's party' and that's exactly what happened towards the end of the show when almost everyone in the audience were up on their feet and swaying along with an artist who knew exactly what show business is all about.'